Congressional Republicans are playing games with a public-health emergency
WHEN MEMBERS of Congress visit their districts over the Memorial Day recess, we hope they keep in mind a warning from Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Zika virus, for which there is no effective vaccine or therapy, can infect a person in a flash, he said during a visit to The Post on Thursday. “You can get a mosquito bite and your life changes,” he said. The virus is mild for most people but in pregnant women can lead to fetal neural defects, and the prospect that local transmission will soon begin in the United States is very real.
The Republican congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), have vowed to end gridlock on Capitol Hill. But in response to Zika, they have inexcusablydithered. President Obama asked for nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funding in February. When Congress failed to act quickly, the administration redirected existing funds in order to scale up an initial response. After much delay, the House and Senate passed widely divergent bills, neither entirely fulfilling the president’s request. The Senate made a serious start with what Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) calls a $1.1 billion “down payment,” with no offsets, which was supported by all Democrats and slightly fewer than half the Republicans. House Republicans wasted weeks and weeks quibbling over whether Mr. Obama’s request was detailed enough, then approved a $622 million bill that would raid accounts for Ebola and other important work, such as emergency preparedness, and would last only through September. The House bill is woefully inadequate. Even more irresponsible was the GOP diversionary tactic to push through a bill to weaken the Clean Water Act under the guise of a Zika response. Congressional Republicans are playing games with a public-health emergency.